Supplementary material

The supplementary video showcases the ARK's functionalities
through three demos. In Demo A, ARK automatically assigns unique IDs
to a swarm of 100 Kilobots. Demos B shows the possibility of employing
ARK for the automatic positioning of 50 Kilobots, which is one of the
typical preliminary operations in swarm robotics experiments. These
operations are typically tedious and time consuming when done
manually. ARK saves researchers' time and makes operating large swarms
considerably easier. Additionally, automating the operation gives more
accurate control of the robots' start positions and removes undesired
biases in comparative experiments. Demo C shows a simple foraging
scenario where 50 Kilobots collect material from a source location and
deposit it at a destination. The robots are programmed to pick up one
virtual flower inside the source area (green flower field), carry it
to the destination (yellow nest), and deposit the flower there. When
performing actions in the virtual environments, the robot signals by
lighting its LED in blue. When picking up a virtual flower from the
source, the robot reduces the source's size for the rest of the robots
(by reducing the area’s diameter by 1cm). Similarly when a robot
deposits flowers at its destination, the area increases by 1 cm. This
demo shows that robots can perceive (and navigate) a virtual gradient,
can modify the virtual environment by moving material from one
location to another, and can autonomously decide when to change the
virtual environment that they sense (either the source or the
destination).

For further information, check the paper or contact A.Reina@sheffield.ac.uk.